Home (1946-56) versus Northern Ireland 1951 Home International Championship

This Wales home red with white shirt collar and cuffs was actually made by Umbro but supplied to the FAW, and distributed by Jack Sharpe of Liverpool. The long sleeve shirt which was worn by Roy Paul, in the 1951 Home International Championship match against Northern Ireland in Belfast on 7th March 1951, a game Wales won 2-1.

The shirt, unusually, has been washed and considering its age is is good condition. It has the national Dragon crest embroidered, along with match details- see picture- onto a white cloth shield instead of the normal square cloth backing. This type of white shield crest was only used on shirts for 3 matches, previously versus Scotland and England in 1950, and this match against Northern Ireland being the last time. The shirt came from a personal collection of a former player -obtained as a post match exchanged- and purchased at auction sometime around 2001/02 by my friend Neville Evans.

Roy Paul was considered by many to be the one of the best players to ever wear the red of Wales, but certainly one of the greatest of the immediate post war generation, which included the likes of Wally Barnes, Alf Sherwood, Ray Daniel, Ron Burgess, Trevor Ford and Ivor Allchurch! A defender who was capped 33 times by Wales and played in all three half back postions for his country.